~ A Day at Home & "Shakers!"

Last week on one of my days home with the kids I decided it would be fun to sit down at the kitchen table and make a craft with Greta!
Since I am such a "crafty soul" one of the things I have looked forward to most is the day I can sit down and craft with my kids! Or the idea of all of them surrounding me at the counter helping me stir and bake something yummy is another dream of mine.
I just love to do those kind of "domestic" things and having my babes around to help just makes them even more enjoyable!

So two weeks ago, Greta and I got to enjoy her first time helping me in the kitchen. We made blueberry muffins. - She had so much fun and was such a good "helpoo".
Since that went so well I decide it was time to try a craft!
So I looked through the house, grabbed some things I had, and off to the kitchen table we went!

Remember back when you were little, way back in preschool.... did you ever make rain sticks?! Or better known to Greta as "Shakoo's!" (shakers that is - she has a terrible time with any word ending in e-r.)

I remembered making these back when I was little and I remembered how fun something this simple could be! And anything that makes noise is always a hit with kids!
So... we made Shakers and you can too!

Here's how easy they are:

We started off with these items...



~ A Paper Tube (from toilet paper or paper towels)
~ Scrapbook Paper (you could use paint, glitter, buttons, etc.)
~ Plastic Wrap
~ Rubber Bands
~ Rice (dried beans or corn kernels would work too)
~ Tin Foil
~ Tape or Glue

Ok... I did NOT take pictures and I am sorry... but I had an 18 month old eating and playing with rice! :) She had fun, so it was ok!

So no pictures, but they are super easy! Here's what I did:

1. I cut my paper towel tube in half so Greta would have 2 shakers to hold. (kid's always want something in BOTH hands, am I right?!)

2. I taped (glue was not drying fast enough for Greta) scrapbook paper around the tube.

3. I then took a piece of plastic wrap and folded it down into a square. By folding it you create a little thickness to it... which you will want once the shaking and noise making begins!

4. Then I placed the plastic wrap on one end of the tube and secured it in place by wrapping a rubber band around it.

5. Once the bottom was in place we started to fill up the tube! We krinkled tin foil in loose balls and put them in there first and then filled it up with rice. - This step is pretty flexible... you can fill your tube however or with whatever you have on hand.

6. After the tube was filled we "capped" the other end with plastic wrap and another rubber band.

7. DONE!



Let the shaking, noise making, and music begin!!!



See, she was a good helper!



Rainy day, no make up, and still in our jammies! It was the perfect day to craft!



The next time you are home with the kids, grab these supplies, and make some shakers! Your kids will love them. - Atleast for the day! lol

~ Uppercase Block Party ~

Yesterday afternoon I had a few girls over to make some Uppercase Living decorative blocks! It was such a fun time. I love getting together and being crafty with friends.

These blocks were super simple to make and made a big statement when they were done. Just scroll down and see for yourself! The girls did an awesome job!

We started off by painting our blocks. Some did cream, some did brown, really it was whatever they thought would look best in their homes.



After the blocks were dry, we moved on to cutting out the letters so we could get a template in place for our scrapbook paper.





Once the letters were cut and the template was checked for correct sizing... we moved on to scrapbook paper! - My favorite!



The discussion of what scrapbook paper to use was pretty intense! The color combo's had to be juuuust right! The girls were picking out colors that looked good together but coordinated with the space they were going in. Everyone chipped in and help out on the decisions.



After the decisions were made, we traced the templates and cut up all our scrapbook paper.





... then we glued our scrapbook paper to our blocks...









Once the blocks were done we were ready for the last step... the Uppercase letters!

And here are the FINISHED PRODUCTS!

























The last 2 pictures are just some of the many words my friend Liz can make. She designed a "map" so she could use her letters to make multiple words. She just made a bunch of blocks with different letters. She can now make all 4 seasons and tons of other fun words, shown above. Super creative Liz.
Other girls, like my sister Jes turned their first set of blocks around and put a second word on the back side. Shown above... "Petersen" is on the front and "Family" on the back! Great way to change it up when you are bored!

All in all, it was a super fun day! I am really glad all of you girls got to come over and craft with me! I think we should do craft days more often.
*Let me know if anyone of you were serious about doing the Christmas Craft Workshops?! If so I was hoping to get one together sometime in late September!

Any of you can do this project as well! Like I said, it was simple, creative, fun, and the results turned out awesome!

If you are interested in ordering letters from Uppercase Living just let me know.

~ Thanks again girls! I hope you all had fun and were inspired!

~ Why Every Mom Should Have a Little Girl ~

... HAIR ACCESSORIES!!!

I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE cute bows, clips, and hair ties for Ms. Greta's hair.

Problem is... she's not quite a huge fan of wearing them all the time!
She's a bit to old to not notice or care that they are in - but she is not old enough to really care and get excited about all things hair! (like her mommy!)
But when she does... I WILL be ready! :)

I have seen these flower clips out in blogland just about everywhere!
So I thought it was about time I try my hand at them... and boy am I glad I did!

Look at how stinkin' CUTE they turned out!!!



They are sooooo easy to make! All you need are the following supplies:

- Metal Hair Clip
- Ribbon
- Fake Flower
- Hot Glue Gun
- Optional: Headband and Diamond Embellishments



All you do is start with a metal clip...



Using your hot glue gun, cover the ENTIRE clip with the ribbon of your choice and hot glue a flower right on top of the clip...



If you have a baby girls vs. a little girl you can take your finished flower and clip it right to an elastic headband. That way it will stay on when they are little and have no hair, but then you can remove it and use it in it's original clip form when baby is bigger and has some hair! :)






And if you have some on hand or like the idea of adding a little extra flair... you can hot glue a diamond embellishment right in the center of the flower!



I couldn't get a picture of Ms. Greta wearing one since my gorgeous little craft wouldn't stay in her hair longer than a minute... but some day soon she will leave them in and not throw them on the floor!

But in honor of the sweet little girl in my life I just had to make some and have them on hand for when she IS ready.
Like all good mommy's, I'll just sit and be patient. :)



Now go! Make some for your little girl and let me know how they turn out!

~ Happy Crafting! ~

~ Blueberry Muffins ~

Me and my family LOVE blueberry muffins! Actually, we like just about blueberry anything! But muffins are such a yummy treat in the morning. A muffin and a nice cup of coffee really get your day off to a good start.

If you know me, you know I love to bake! Baking is something that almost soothes me, like therapy if you will. And muffins are just about the easiest and fastest thing you can make! So I thought I would share a good recipe for blueberry muffins!
I have been posting a lot about crafts lately but I realized I have neglected my other love... baking!

So here ya' go:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
2 1/2 cups fresh blueberries (I just throw in the whole pint, whatever that equals!)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375. Grease and flour muffin pans or use paper liners. Whatever works for you! :)
2. In a bowl, mix butter and 1 1/2 cups of sugar. Add eggs and mix in.
3. Next mix in flour, baking powder, and salt. Once all of that is in, mix in your milk.
4. Now the recipe I use tells you to mash 1/2 cup berries and stir into batter. Then fold in remaining berries. Sometimes I do this step sometimes I don't! If you do add some mashed blueberries it definitely changes the color of the muffins to a blue/purplish tint but it gives a little bit of blueberry in every bite!
5. Finally, fill muffin cups about 3/4 the way full. Bake at 375 degrees for about 28minutes. (your oven may be a little different, so check around 25 minutes so you don't burn them.)
6. And that's it! Remove from oven and wait about 20 minutes to take them out of the pan. I learned the hard way... if you don't wait till they are properly cooled down you could end up ripping the top part off the muffin and leaving the bottom part in the pan! - Not good!

See for yourself, they turned out super yummy as always!!!



OH... and did I mention I had a helper?!



Ms. Greta joined me in the kitchen to be my little "helpoo!" Although she didn't do much helping... it was more like "taste testing!"



Although, I guess she DID help me stir! Haha. But most of it was tasting!



She pretty much licked the bowl clean!



She was such a good helper! When we were done she sat nicely at the table and enjoyed the finish product with a big sippy cup of milk!
After our fun morning of baking I realized I don't love baking half as much as I love batter filled kisses from my baby girl! :)

~ Crafting with Cans - Take 2 ~

Hi girls!

Today I am linking up with Kimba over at A Soft Place to Land for her DIY DAY!
So if you are checking out my blog for the first time... Welcome! If you are a returning reader... go check out Kimba's DIY DAY, you will not be sorry you did! Some of the ideas these other women post are amazing!!!

Ok... on to my DIY project!

So remember the post I did the other day when we talked about my new obsession with collecting cans around my house?! It has now spread to yet another project!
This idea is super inexpensive, super cute, and super easy to make. Chances are you already have all the items on hand.

So here we go:

Grab yourself a large can, like a formula can or a coffee can. Then round up some fabric you would like to use.



If your can has an edge or rim to it you should be able to grab a can opener and take that part off. This just gives it a cleaner look and makes the opening a smidge wider! *you can skip this step if you'd like.





When your can has been cleaned, de-rimmed, and the label is off... you are ready!
*if your label comes off nicely, save it and use it as a template. I had to skip that step since my label was glued on and not coming off with out a rip, I mean a fight!

Now you can wrap plain old white paper around the can and tape it in place. I did this because my fabric was light and a smidge see through. Also it just helps bulk it up and give it a better finished look.
Just cut the paper to fit and make sure to add that extra piece and "patch" in what you are short. Get it?! Have I lost you already?! You'll get it once you start.





*Now that you have your can completely wrapped with the white paper you might want to use that to make another one... a template if you will. This is if your label did not come off nicely. Having a template made out of the white paper makes it super fast and easy to cut out your fabric... for the next step.



Take your paper or label template and measure out your fabric leaving a bit extra on the length so your seams overlap verses butting up to each other.
Just draw a light pencil line as your guide and cut out the exact size piece of fabric you will need.



Since you will be overlapping your edges, go ahead and tape one edge of your fabric to the can. This will help you get a better hold of the fabric while wrapping the can.



Wrap your fabric all the way around the can. Use a hot glue gun and run a thin bead of glue down one edge and glue the two edges together.



Cut off the extra and any fuzz or extra strings along the top and bottom of your fabric.



Waaa Laaa! Your can is wrapped and we are almost done!

Now you can just add any cute decorative "ditty" you'd like.
I chose to take some rubber stamps I had and stamp some cute things onto textured white card stock.
*Tip of the day: I ripped the edges instead of cut them... gives it a more hand made look! ;)



I added my stamped pieces to some extra cardstock to frame them in.



Then I took my hole punch and punched 2 holes in the tan cardstock at the top. This is so you can wrap a ribbon around the can and tie a big beautiful bow in the front!



Now that you've dressed up your can... you're done!



I did a row of three and put them in my daughters room!
They hold her Nuks, Hair Ties, and Bows!



See, I told ya' they would be pretty easy to make!
I hope you are inspired to make your own crafty cans now! If you do... email me a picture or leave a link of how we can see it!

Have a great day and happy crafting!